1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card connector that is built into an electronic apparatus such as a digital camera and is capable of selectively connecting three different types of memory cards having differing widths and thicknesses.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic apparatus such as a digital camera, a portable audio player, a mobile phone, or an electronic copier has a memory card connector built therein, and such an electronic apparatus is used by connecting a memory card including a semiconductor memory element to the memory card connector.
Presently, a number of memory cards with differing outer dimensions (lengths, widths, and thicknesses) are known. In the case of configuring an electronic apparatus to be adaptable to plural types of memory cards, normally, a first memory card connector dedicated for a first type of memory card and a second memory card connector dedicated for a second type of memory card are arranged within the electronic apparatus. However, such a structure including plural memory card connectors in the electronic apparatus may not be desirable in view of the demand for miniaturization of the electronic apparatus.
In turn, memory card connectors have been developed that are capable of connecting two types of memory cards by enabling either one of a first type of memory card or a second type of memory card to be selectively loaded via one common memory card loading slot (e.g., see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-196302, No. 2005-209550, and No. 2002-24771).
It is noted that the above disclosures relate to card connectors adapted for connecting two types of memory cards; however, with the growing variety of memory cards being used, there is a demand for a memory card connector that is adapted for connecting three types of memory cards.